Light It Up
by Lunar Resonance
Summary: Kilik meets his twins.


**A/N: Not my usual SoMa fics but I really like Kilik and his twins. It's more of a note for myself but all the stories I have on here are all take place in the same universe in my mind (excepting my AU stories obviously) so in future, if I make a reference to another story, I will make a note of that. Enjoy!**

**Lunar**

* * *

Sweat poured down the sides of his face. Kilik threw down his pack on the dusty road, pausing to catch his breath. "There it is!" he crowed triumphantly.

Death City laid out in the distance, almost like a shining mirage. It looked like a macabre pyramid city. Bone-white buildings with blood-red roofs crammed together, moving towards the sky and culminating with the DWMA, the crown jewel of the city, copies of Lord Death's mask embedded in the very architecture itself. To some, the view may have been gloomy.

To Kilik, it looked too good to be true. As soon as he had received his acceptance letter a month ago, he had done nothing but prepare for his journey, eager to be in Death City.

Bending to grab his pack, he pulled a water bottle from a pocket, taking a long swig. Capping the bottle, he tried not to picture his parents' faces as he bid them good-bye. They had long known his dream of being a meister and were supportive but saying good-bye hadn't been easy. He had vowed to make them proud but now as he set down the road again, a fluttery feeling sprang up in his stomach.

Hopefully, he wouldn't have to return to them as a failure, unable to find a single compatible weapon. Kilik wiped the sweat from his forehead, clenching his fist. "That won't happen!" he promised himself. There were sure to be plenty of weapons at the Academy-the chances of finding someone to partner with was in his favor.

And with that comforting thought, he picked up his pace, feet itching to feel the streets of Death City under his soles.

* * *

Kilik stared at the food on his plate, for once not hungry. He was too worried to eat. Too worried to do much of anything, actually.

He had started off the day optimistically enough. After finally making it into Death City late in the afternoon yesterday, he had found a cheap hotel to sleep at. He had collapsed on the flimsy bed and into a deep sleep, mentally noting to find housing as soon as possible.

But an internal alarm had woken up him up. Shrugging off his sore calves, he had gone for a quick run, wanting to get a better feel for Death City. He'd reasoned that since it was going to be his new home for a while, he'd have to get used to it. He had run to the center of the city, drawn unconsciously to the DWMA.

On the way, he had seen other kids with tags of "meister" or "weapon" wandering around, looking nervous. That had gotten him nervous and instead of jogging all the way to the Academy, he had looped back to the hotel, changed and headed straight for the school.

There, waiting on the steps of the DWMA, he and the others who had been accepted nervously exchanged introductions. He had met a boy with the strangest hair, completely bald save for two neatly done pillars of hair on the side of his head. But Kilik didn't judge-the boy, Ox Ford, he had called himself, was nice enough although he talked way too much about strategies and other boring stuff.

Stealing a glance at him across the table that they had chosen for lunch, it seemed he also liked to talk about a certain pink-haired girl. Kim, he was pretty sure that was what her name was, however, hadn't seemed to feel the same way about Ox. She had turned up her nose at his invitation to sit at their table, choosing to sit at a table across the lunchroom, her weapon, a brown-haired girl, following her.

Weapon.

The very word made his stomach clench. Although Kilik had introduced to what he felt like every weapon (except for a strange-looking white-haired guy who had slipped off during Lord Death's welcome speech on the front steps and hadn't shown up all day) and none of them had been a match.

They had been nice enough, sure, like a girl named Tsubaki but she had been too preoccupied to a blue-haired kid's speech to make a connection and the next he had seen of her, she'd matched up with the still-yelling kid.

Even Ox had found a partner, a guy by the name of Harvar. He sat silently next to Ox, his mouth pressed in a line, sunglasses hiding his eyes. Personally, Kilik wasn't sure how the partnership was going to work but the weapon had as much as a choice as the meister.

He gave his head an impatient shake, nervous fingers tapping a beat on his chair. He was the only one without a weapon. His worst nightmare was coming true.

Well, he amended, not the only one as he noticed a pigtailed girl with the tag "meister" sitting at a table sans weapon. She didn't look too worried though. She looked rather annoyed as a red-haired man stood at her side, talking eagerly to her.

Kilik looked down at his hands. What would his parents say if he was forced to return home? What would he do?

The din of partners talking became too loud for him. He stood up and cut off Ox on whatever tangent he was on. "Sorry, I gotta get some air." Without waiting for a response, he grabbed an apple off his tray, stuffed it in his pocket and walked out of the room.

* * *

He couldn't stay at the DWMA, instead choosing to wander Death City. He had about an hour before the tour of the school started anyways.

Kilik found himself in one of the shopping districts of Death City. "Maybe I should get a souvenir since it doesn't look like I'll be here much longer," he mused gloomily.

A sudden shout from behind him broke his reverie.

"You get back here and pay for that, you little gremlins!" The angry voice came from a burly grocery keeper. He was running in the street after two short kids dressed in clothes that would better be called rags. They were carrying their weight in food and outstripping the grocery keeper.

That is, until one of them fell. The food in her hands spilled out everywhere, turning into a crushed mess. Her sibling, Kilik assumed from their nearly identical looks, immediately turned back. Dropping his own pile of food, he grabbed her hand to pull her up.

And the keeper's hand clamped on his in a tight grip. Eyes widening in fear, the kid gave a scared yelp.

Kilik acted on an impulse. Diving across the street, he put himself between the keeper and the kids. "Hey, let them go!"

A vein throbbed in the grocery keeper's forehead. "Did you see how much food those little thieves stole?! I'm reporting this to the police!"

Kilik pulled out his wallet. "I can pay for it. Just them let them go."

The grocery keeper eyed him suspiciously. "You can pay for all of this?"

Taking out a wad of cash, the efforts of saving over many years, he simply asked, "How much?"

After he paid the grocery keeper, who had gone away without another look at the kids, Kilik turned to the two.

The one who had fallen was on her feet now, still holding her brother's hand. They were both dark-skinned, with blond hair and eyes as blue as the sky. Both regarded him warily, though the girl was turned toward him rather than away from him.

Again he noticed the rags clothing the two. A pang of sadness pierced his heart. He reached for the apple in his pocket. "Here," he said, reaching out to the pair.

The brother pulled his sister back a couple steps. But she pulled from him, a hungry look on her face.

Kilik knelt down, stretching his hand to her. "It's okay. You can have it."

For a moment, she hesitated. Then she quickly snatched the apple from his hand, her brother grabbing her free hand and they were off.

Kilik didn't chase them. Instead, he stood up and sighed, wishing he had brought two apples.

* * *

As he headed back to the Academy, taking an alley shortcut he had found on his run, Kilik couldn't stop thinking about the two twins.

He couldn't imagine how hard it was for them, living on the streets when they were kids. "Practically babies," he muttered.

The sound of footsteps was his only warning that someone was behind him. He turned but it was too late.

A punch to his side keeled him over, leaving him gasping for breath.

A raspy voice spoke. "Quite the stash you had back there? Didn't you?"

Still wheezing for breath, Kilik looked up. A dirty, unshaven man stood over him. In his hand was a long, grimy knife.

Kilik tried to speak. "What…do….you want?"

With his free hand, the man gestured to Kilik's pocket. "Your wallet. And make it snappy or I start using this!"

Kilik cursed himself internally for flashing his cash so obviously in public. Hadn't his parents warned him about that?

He struggled to his knees, raising his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay."

He reached for his wallet as the man danced anxiously in front of him.

Then, his mugger fell to his knees, hit in the back of the legs by an invisible force.

Two pairs of blue eyes looked around the doubled over body of the mugger and worriedly at Kilik.

A wave of relief swept over Kilik as he got to his feet. It didn't last for long though as the mugger got up quickly and turned on the twins with a snarl.

Kilik launched himself at him, pushing him against the wall.

With force Kilik was surprised to find the mugger had, the man shoved him off, pushing Kilik into the alley's other wall.

Kilik's breath came in and out in gasps as he looked for the twins, sure they had enough time to run. Instead he felt two pairs of hands pulling on his pants leg.

"What are you still-?" his question was cut off as the twins glowed, turning into metal gauntlets. He caught them in the air. "Weapons," he said wonderingly.

But he was forced to break from his thoughts as the man launched at him with a knife.

Kilik quickly blocked, the knife leaving no mark on the gauntlets. He grinned. These were odds he liked.

He aimed at a punch to the man's stomach, which he narrowly dodged. "I'll kill you!" the man spat.

One of the gauntlets began letting out little sparks of flame while the other sparked blue lightning, rumbling loudly.

The man's eyes widened in fear. He stumbled back a couple steps. "What witchcraft is this?" he screamed.

With another look at Kilik's flaming and sparking fists, he dropped his knife and ran out of the alley.

Kilik let out a barking laugh. "We showed him!"

The gauntlets glowed as the twins returned to their human forms. They looked excitedly at him as he knelt down to grab them in a hug.

"You guys really helped me out. I would have been a goner if it wasn't for you two."

The girl blushed, her cheeks a rosy pink while the boy gave a small smile.

Kilik wondered aloud. "If you two are weapons, why aren't you at the DWMA?"

Both twins' faces dropped. In answer, they pointed at each other and then lifted their hands as high as they could go.

For a moment, Kilik was puzzled. Then it struck him. "It's because you're kids, isn't it?"

They nodded sadly in unison.

Kilik bit his lip, considering. "Well why don't you be my weapons?"

The twins' eyes, if possible, grew even wider in disbelief. Kilik stood up, grinning. "C'mon, we'll make a great team!"

The brother looked at his sister. Then, they looked at him and nodded.

"All right!" Kilik cheered. He grabbed a hand from each twin. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

It doesn't occur to him until they're halfway to the DWMA. He stopped in his tracks, prompting a look from the twins. "What are your names?" The twins looked at each other, shrugging. Kilik felt his brown knit in confusion. "But didn't your parents give you one?"

The girl's eyes welled up while the brother shook his head. Kilik felt his stomach drop. "They're dead?"

The boy's head shook even more vigorously while a tear fell from the girl's lip.

Kilik spoke slowly. "Then, they…left you?"

The girl hugged Kilik's leg while the boy started to cry. Kilik cursed himself for even speaking. They had been in rags for Death's sake!

He spotted a clothing store. Speaking quickly to cheer them up, he said, "It's okay! You can live with me. And the first thing we need to do is get you out of those rags and into real clothes."

The twins looked up at him, sadness lifting from their eyes.

"Let's go!" Kilik led them to the store.

Twenty minutes later, Kilik and the twins emerged. The twins were dressed in beige overalls and study shoes. Kilik reached for something in the bag he now held. He pulled out two hats, one red and one yellow.

"Okay, which one of you makes fire?" The boy raised his hand. He plopped the red hat on his head. "And you make lightning," he said, placing the yellow hat on the girl.

"From now on you're Fire and you're Thunder."


End file.
